Thai Rip-Off

Another entry from our resident chef? Could it really be?

Yes folks, I'm still alive and occasionally I still cook.

Today we've a strong flavoured dish full of fibre, protein, B vitamins and many other prime nutrients. If you like these things, please, read on.

First things first: Cook some brown rice. Use lots of water and a lid. Cook for about 15-20 minutes before adding some wild rice.

Fun Fact: Wild Rice is not actually a rice but a seed, and an aquatic grass seed at that. Fun eh!?

Cook the rice for a total of 40-45 minutes and drain.

While you're cooking this, get your chop on. I chopped:

red onion
garlic
carrots
green pepper
baby bok choy
dill

Heat your pan, add your oil of choice (coconut, canola or olive) and add your vegetables in twos down my list and cook that shit up!

Now for your flavours. I used a bottled thai peanut sauce because I'm not that ambitious, a bit of peanut oil and a touch of maple syrup. Honey or agave nectar would also work, possibly even better than maple syrup. Just a bit though. It adds a nice touch. Basically just use however much you want of these things, but don't be shy. Remember you're going to be covering that rice that might be burning right now, so you can sauce it up all you want. Plus if you're reading this in the first place you're probably the saucy type anyway.

Oh, and add a touch of something spicy too, like chili peppers. Then add your sea salt and pepper to taste and...

Tada!

Flax and Cheese

1. Cook some noodles. I used brown rice noodles because they are better for me, quicker to cook and tastier.

2. Mix nutritional yeast in a bowl with your choice of milk substitute. Mine was unsweetened Almond Breeze. Mix it with a fork so that it is not too liquidy but without powder. This will be your cheese. I also recommend mixing this in the same bowl that you serve it in so that any cheese that sticks to the bowl can still be mixed into the final dish.

3. Grind fresh flax seeds in a clean coffee grinder. I don't use very much because it will dry out the dish. The more seeds you use the more oil you'll need.

4. Drain the water from the pot of cooked noodles and stir in your cheese. When uniform, stir in the ground flax seeds and flax oil. Add oil until it is the consistency you desire. This meal is all about desire.

5. Love it! This is a very healthy alternative to traditional mac and cheese, plus it's delish. I'd also recommend doing it with wild or brown rice for an even healthier meal, but the noodles make me feel like a kid again.

Queer But Dillicious Quinoa

I wasn't planning on posting this, but it just looked so delicious when I was finished making it that I had to share this tribute to the most popular of the ancient grains.


In a pot, boil 1/2 cup of quinoa with some red lentils in a cup of water. The quantity can change but be sure the 1:2 quinoa:water ratio stays the same. You may need to add a bit more water to compensate for the lentils but let your common sense guide you here.

Beside this, in a pan of the your oil of choice, saute an array of vegetables. I chose zucchini, carrots, cremini mushrooms, roma tomatoes and leek with a clove of garlic. Quickly fry these and add as much freshly chopped dill and cilantro as desired to both the vegetable and quinoa mixes a few minutes before the quinoa is done. I like it strong so I used quite a bit.

The quinoa is done when it has absorbed all of the water and is soft. It should take between 10-20 minutes. Once the water is gone add the grain and legumes to the veggies and saute for a few more minutes.

Serve with flatbread and a spoon for a delicious and interactive self serve wrap meal.

Feel Good Falafels

This is so ridiculously easy that I a)don't even know if I should be posting it as a recipe and b) don't at all feel good about having wasted so much money in the past on fast food falafels.

You can buy falafel mix either in the box or in bulk. Mix about half a cup of water for every cup of mix. 1 cup of mix makes about 6-8 falafel patties. Mix together periodically while letting it mix and settle for about 10 minutes. Use a spoon to shape your new batter into appropriately sized balls and drop into oil deep enough to cover half of the patty. I use a wok, but you can use whatever suits you best. Try to use as small a pan as possible so that you aren't wasting a lot of oil. Make sure the oil is already hot, heated at a medium-high level. Flip your falafels once, once they look brown enough for your satisfaction.


As you can see I ate my falafel with tomato (diced for maximum pleasure), boston (or butter) lettuce, although I recommend romaine and sauteed red onion and portobello mushrooms. I also recommend turnip as a staple in most falafels, but I didn't have any today. I also prefer my falafel with hummus, which I am also out of. Other delicious additions could include a variety of peppers, olives, tzatziki and even pineapple. Be creative and enjoy!

Hell-Bent Bean Burgers

You might think that this is a lot of work for a couple of burgers, but trust me when I say that this isn't your average veggie burger.


Mix 1cup of TVP (see Nacho Average Nachos), a teaspoon of tomato paste and slightly less the 1 cup of boiling water. Let this sit for 10 minutes while you mix the rest of the ingredients.

can of pinto beans, drained
1/4 cup of bread crumbs
2-3 cloves of garlic
oregano
splash of soy sauce
touch of tahini

Add this to the blender so that it looks like this.




Add the TVP mix and blend until it looks like this.







Now for the tricky part. I suggest using a spoon or spatula to get this mix out because it is very sticky. Place your burger shaped blobs onto flour covered wax paper, covering the burgers in flour and more wax paper again. Use a lot of flour. Let them sit in the fridge for at least an hour.

Cook these in aluminum foil and cover them in more flour before cooking them. Use lots of flour. I cooked mine in the toaster oven, but if it wasn't a snowy blizzard outside I would have barbequed them. It took about half an hour.

Don't make this recipe if you're expecting a fast food veggie burger. This is a very soft burger and is probably not what you're expecting but it was extremely satisfying. I garnished my burgers with red onion, tomato, romaine lettuce, barbeque sauce and roasted red pepper hummus but you can put on whatever toppings tickle your fancy. I made a spinach, orange, apple and pear salad to go on the side. It would eat well with an orange or balsamic vinegarette.

Oh yeah, use lots of flour.

Enjoy!

Hot and Cold Fettuccine Spinach Salad

This is my favourite way to eat spinach. It's not cooked and shrivelled but it's also not raw and uninteresting. This is spinach my way, and it's all too easy to make.

Spinach

(Roma) Tomatoes

Red Onion

Fettuccine

Zucchini

Green Pepper

Garlic
Oil

Boil the pasta with the garlic, green pepper and zucchini for 8-10minutes. Strain and add a bit of hot oil. Top it all onto the fresh tomatoes, onion and spinach. Simply put;

+

=

Enjoy!

Nacho Average Nachos

This is a delicious alternative to the party nacho platter. It also makes a great, very filling meal.

Here's what I use:

Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)

Barbeque Sauce

Soy Sauce

Moosehead Lager

Salsa

Garlic

Green Pepper

Jalapeno Pepper

Onion

Mushrooms

Tortilla Chips

To start off, you need to rehydrate the TVP. Make a mix of barbeque, soy sauce, salsa, water and any acidic liquid (cooking vinegar, beer, wine, apple juice). The acid is just to help the TVP absorb all of the flavour. I make the mix just over half Bbq sauce. Make the same amount of mix as you use TVP. 1 cup is plenty.

Cook this in some oil and add your vegetables. Obviously the amount here is to your discretion. Once the veggies are cooked you can throw it on top of your nacho chips. I layer my plate as follows: Chips, topping, chips, topping. Then I top with vegan cheese and melt it in the microwave or toaster oven quickly. (I didn't have any in the fridge today.)

Note: If this isn't obvious, don't add Jalapenos if you don't like it hot. If you do use them, make sure not to touch your eyes before you wash your hands thoroughly. This advice stems from personal experience. I used two peppers and it blew my taste buds away. Enjoy!